{"id":45799,"date":"2014-10-04T19:47:12","date_gmt":"2014-10-05T01:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=45799"},"modified":"2026-03-16T12:45:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T17:45:56","slug":"johnny-lira-ernesto-espana-boxing-and-one-heck-of-a-nice-guy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=45799","title":{"rendered":"Johnny Lira: Ernesto Espana, Boxing and One Heck of a Nice Guy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1545664804358300\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block; text-align: center;\" data-ad-layout=\"in-article\" data-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1545664804358300\" data-ad-slot=\"8616314829\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=45799 \" rel=\"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=45799 \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-45800\" style=\"margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;\" title=\"JL\" src=\"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/JL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"194\" height=\"260\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The city of Chicago has produced its share of outstanding professional fighters. One of them was a tough as nails lightweight that campaigned in the late 1970\u2032s and early 1980\u2032s. His name was Johnny Lira and he fought his way into the top echelon of the lightweight rankings.<\/p>\n<p>Lira turned pro in 1976 and quickly gained notice by winning his first twelve fights. In 1977, he drew with Manuel Lopez, but defeated Lopez in a return bout. Johnny hit the big time in 1978 when he received a shot at the United States Boxing Association lightweight title.<!--more--> His opponent was the highly ranked southpaw bomber Andy Ganigan. Johnny was a decided underdog going in, but he shocked the boxing establishment by stopping Ganigan in round six. Lira then went to New York\u2019s Madison Square Garden to outscore the talented Larry Stanton. Lira was now high in the ratings and in 1979; he received a shot at the World Boxing Association\u2019s version of the lightweight title. Their champion was a hard-hitting bomber from Venezuela Ernesto Espana. It was a grueling fight, but Espana emerged victorious stopping Johnny in nine rounds. Lira would suffer a broken jaw for his gallant effort.<\/p>\n<p>In 1980 Johnny traveled to Spain and dropped an eight round decision to Andoni Amana. He would later lose a ten round duke to the flashy Howard Davis,JR. In 1981, Lira would post a ten round win over Ohio\u2019s rugged Bobby Plegge. Johnny was then outdueled over ten rounds by Nicky Furlano and was stopped in nine rounds by Willie Rodriguez for the USBA super lightweight title. Lira regrouped in 1982 scoring a points verdict over Canadian Al Ford. Johnny then lost a tough call to former world champion Alfredo Escalera. Lira would come back to win four fights, but in 1984 he lost a ten rounder to Russell Mitchell. That was his last fight.<\/p>\n<p>Lira hung up the gloves with a fine record of 29-7-1. He scored fifteen knockouts. Johnny was stopped on only two occasions.<\/p>\n<p>Later after his retirement Johnny would have a successful liver transplant. His health would remain good for several years. Lira spent his time training young amateur boxers in the Chicago area, but eventually got ill again and died from liver disease on December 8, 2012. He was 61 years old.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Publisher\u2019s Note: (I met Johnny Lira in 1981 at the Allen Park Gym in North Miami Beach Florida. At the time, I was an amateur boxer. Johnny, James \u201cQuick\u201d Tillis who was trained by Angelo Dundee and former cruiserweight contender, Young Joe Louis all trained during the day at the gym. At night, the amateur boxers including myself would come in. That is where I met Johnny who was a sweetheart of a man. In fact, all three of these warriors were at my 3rd fight at North Miami Beach City Hall in 1981 where I went to 3-0 with them cheering me on. I just found out that Johnny died and I want to give my late condolences to the family and say to Johnny, RIP my brother in boxing. We will never forget you\u2026)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Barry Livingston 360 Conversation: My Three Sons,  Movies, TV, Charles M. Schulz,  Peanuts &amp; More\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vPvZ9JUv9vY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #808000;\"><a style=\"color: #808000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.authorhouse.com\/en\/bookstore\/bookdetails\/232300-BOXING-INTERVIEWS-OF-A-LIFETIME\">Click Here to Order Boxing Interviews Of A Lifetime By &#8220;Bad&#8221; Brad Berkwitt<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"wpforms-container wpforms-container-full\" id=\"wpforms-126533\"><form id=\"wpforms-form-126533\" class=\"wpforms-validate wpforms-form wpforms-ajax-form\" data-formid=\"126533\" method=\"post\" enctype=\"multipart\/form-data\" action=\"\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F45799\" data-token=\"a05e9f7c82ac6455439a9d3a456605ed\" data-token-time=\"1777269939\"><noscript class=\"wpforms-error-noscript\">Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.<\/noscript><div class=\"wpforms-field-container\"><div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-name\" data-field-id=\"1\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\">Name <span class=\"wpforms-required-label\">*<\/span><\/label><div class=\"wpforms-field-row wpforms-field-medium\"><div class=\"wpforms-field-row-block wpforms-first wpforms-one-half\"><input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1\" class=\"wpforms-field-name-first wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][1][first]\" required><label for=\"wpforms-126533-field_1\" class=\"wpforms-field-sublabel after\">First<\/label><\/div><div class=\"wpforms-field-row-block wpforms-one-half\"><input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-last\" class=\"wpforms-field-name-last wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][1][last]\" required><label for=\"wpforms-126533-field_1-last\" class=\"wpforms-field-sublabel after\">Last<\/label><\/div><\/div><\/div><div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_2-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-email\" data-field-id=\"2\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_2\">Email <span class=\"wpforms-required-label\">*<\/span><\/label><input type=\"email\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_2\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium wpforms-field-required\" name=\"wpforms[fields][2]\" spellcheck=\"false\" required><\/div>\t\t<div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_4-container\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-text\"\n\t\t\tdata-field-type=\"text\"\n\t\t\tdata-field-id=\"4\"\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t<label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_4\" >Name Message Comment<\/label>\n\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" id=\"wpforms-126533-field_4\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium\" name=\"wpforms[fields][4]\" >\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div id=\"wpforms-126533-field_3-container\" class=\"wpforms-field wpforms-field-textarea\" data-field-id=\"3\"><label class=\"wpforms-field-label\" for=\"wpforms-126533-field_3\">Comment or Message<\/label><textarea id=\"wpforms-126533-field_3\" class=\"wpforms-field-medium\" name=\"wpforms[fields][3]\" ><\/textarea><\/div><script>\n\t\t\t\t( function() {\n\t\t\t\t\tconst style = document.createElement( 'style' );\n\t\t\t\t\tstyle.appendChild( document.createTextNode( '#wpforms-126533-field_4-container { position: absolute !important; 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One of them was a tough as nails lightweight that campaigned in the late 1970\u2032s and early 1980\u2032s. His name was Johnny Lira and he fought his way into the top echelon of the lightweight rankings. Lira turned pro in 1976 and quickly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[10666,10665],"class_list":["post-45799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-boxing-and-one-heck-of-a-nice-guy","tag-johnny-lira-ernesto-espana"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45799\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}